Source: Shenlan Finance

Recently, the much-anticipated 2026 Spring Festival Gala revealed its second embodied intelligent robot. Surprisingly, the robot didn't come from well-known names like Unitree, Zhongqing, or Zhiyuan. Instead, it was introduced by a relatively low-profile company—Galaxy General. Following this announcement, the A-share listed company Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd. witnessed a surge in its stock price, hitting the daily limit.

As someone who has closely followed the capital markets for years, I was taken aback. Is there really a connection between Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd. and embodied robots? And who exactly is Galaxy General?

1

Spring Festival Gala Robots: A Flurry of Speculations

In financial circles, it's well-known that the top sponsors of the Spring Festival Gala have consistently mirrored China's economic development trajectory. From the early days of liquor (baijiu, a traditional Chinese spirit) and home appliances to later internet giants like BAT, and now to robots and AI large models, the Gala not only seeks influential participants but also aims to showcase China's industrial and economic advancements to the world.

As an annual national event, appearing on the Spring Festival Gala guarantees immense exposure and public attention. Last year, Unitree's robot stole the limelight with its Yangge (a traditional Chinese folk dance) performance, leading to a sell-out of its G1 robots. At the capital level, the company attracted significant investments from top-tier investors, paving the way for unprecedented growth.

With such a successful precedent, rumors about humanoid robots at this year's Gala have been circulating widely. Earlier reports from 36 Krypton, National Business Daily, and other media outlets suggested that 'many robot companies have bid for the Gala,' with bidding prices soaring to 100 million yuan. However, relevant companies have denied these rumors.

The speculation was put to rest when Galaxy General (the first being 'Magic Atom') officially announced its selection for the Gala. Another claim circulating is that five embodied intelligent companies will appear at this year's Gala, with total sponsorship reaching 500 million yuan, averaging 100 million yuan per company.

For domestic embodied intelligent enterprises still in their infancy, is it worth spending 100 million yuan to appear on the Gala? Opinions are divided, and the debate is intense. Some self-media outlets have suggested that some companies might pay this fee in non-cash ways. They pointed out that the CCTV Media Convergence Industry Investment Fund (Limited Partnership) has recently been actively involved in financing embodied intelligent enterprises.

Shenlan Finance discovered through Tianyancha that the CCTV Media Convergence Fund has indeed participated in the Pre-B round financing of Songyan Power and the Series C financing of Deep Robotics. This lends significant credibility to the aforementioned rumors.

Public information also reveals that in December, Galaxy General announced the completion of a new round of financing exceeding $300 million, with the CCTV Media Convergence Fund playing a prominent role!

Given this equity relationship, it's perhaps not surprising that two embodied intelligent robot companies have already been officially announced for this year's Gala. As for which other humanoid robots will appear, speculation abounds. However, it should be noted that the aforementioned rumors about a 100 million yuan sponsorship fee for this year's Gala embodied intelligent robots still require further official confirmation.

2

Naming Itself 'General': A Grand Vision

Of course, relying solely on 'connections' to make an entrance is just wishful thinking. To perform on the Spring Festival Gala stage, one must possess genuine prowess. Under the watchful eyes of billions of global viewers, there can be no room for error.

Compared to popular domestic embodied robot companies like Unitree and Zhongqing, Galaxy General's capabilities are by no means inferior.

According to available information, Beijing Galaxy General Robotics Co., Ltd. was founded on May 19, 2023, by Dr. Wang He and Yao Tengzhou.

Wang He earned his bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University in 2014 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2021, under the guidance of Professor Leonidas J. Guibas, a member of three U.S. academies. Currently, Wang He also serves as an assistant professor and doctoral supervisor at Peking University. Co-founder Yao Tengzhou holds a master's degree from the Robotics Institute at Beihang University and previously worked at ABB Group's Shanghai Robot R&D Center, where he was involved in industrial and service robot R&D for many years.

Shortly after its establishment, the company attracted intense interest from investment institutions. It swiftly completed its seed round financing in May 2023. In June and November 2024, it secured over 700 million yuan in angel round financing and 500 million yuan in strategic round financing, respectively. In June 2025, the company completed another round of financing worth 1.1 billion yuan. Just recently, in December, Galaxy General once again announced the acquisition of over $300 million (approximately 2.1 billion yuan) in financing.

According to 'Tencent Technology,' based on publicly available information and AI-assisted compilation, as of December 2025, Galaxy General is valued as the top embodied intelligent unicorn, surpassing popular companies like Zhiyuan and Unitree.

Judging from the company's name, the word 'General' perhaps reveals its grand vision. Like General Electric and General Motors, Galaxy General aspires to provide universal solutions in this emerging and fragmented industry, enabling its products to penetrate multiple sectors such as households, commerce, and industry, and become a leading general robot enterprise.

To achieve this vision, Galaxy General has open-sourced and released the world's first functional grasping synthetic big data system for dexterous hands, DexonomySim, as well as a fully open-source, multi-model, cross-virtual-reality teleoperation system for humanoid robots, OpenWBT, providing critical infrastructure support for global research and industrial developers.

Currently, Galaxy General's products have formed mature solutions across multiple fields and achieved large-scale commercial deployment. In the industrial manufacturing sector, the Galbot robot has been deployed in factories such as CATL, Bosch Group, and Toyota Motor Corporation, with cumulative orders reaching thousands of units. In the smart city sector, it has launched a city-level 'Galaxy Space Capsule,' centered around the humanoid robot Galbot, to achieve fully autonomous operation and monitoring. In the instant retail warehousing sector, robots have been deployed for picking and packaging, effectively addressing nighttime labor shortages. In the medical and wellness sector, they have been implemented in wards, pharmacies, and guidance applications.

Wang He has also publicly stated that Galaxy General's ultimate goal is to make robots 'capable of seeing, understanding, and helping' as new family members. This indeed reveals the company's significant ambition.

3

The Elimination Round Begins, While the Secondary Market Remains Buzzing

Recently, Wang Zhongyuan, the dean of the Zhiyuan Research Institute, stated in a media interview that the embodied robot industry is still in a very early development stage, with products still facing core pain points such as being 'not user-friendly, not universal, and not easy to use.' In his view, from a deployment perspective, humanoid robots will enter industrial scenarios more quickly, while entering household scenarios remains relatively distant.

The Beijing News cited the view of Zhang Chi, the founder of Xinding Capital, stating that the industry will enter a shakeout phase in 2026, with only 10 to 20 out of the hundreds of domestic humanoid robot companies likely to survive. Companies lacking core technologies and with ambiguous business models will face severe challenges.

Despite this, the capital market presents a different picture—related concept stocks surge at the mere mention of association. Following Galaxy General's selection for the Spring Festival Gala, its largest concept stock, Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd., saw its share price soar to the daily limit on January 26.

However, questions arise regarding potential information disclosure flaws in Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd.'s involvement in Galaxy General's financing. Specifically:

The 'Galaxy General Robotics' official WeChat account announced the financing news as early as December 19. Some investors may have obtained this information and inquired about it on the interactive platform to Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd. on December 23, but received no response until December 31.

During this period, Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd.'s shares soared to the daily limit on December 25 and 26. The company then issued an 'Announcement on Abnormal Stock Trading Fluctuations' on December 29, stating that there were no matters that should be disclosed.

Following the announcement, Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd.'s shares soared to the daily limit again for two consecutive days.

It wasn't until December 31 that the company replied to investors on the interactive platform, stating, 'The company has recently participated in investing in Galaxy General Robotics.' So, is Tianqi Automobile Parts Co., Ltd. suspected of information disclosure flaws?

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